194 gr Bradshaw-Martin SWC GC

[bradshaw]

Dick.... shoot the accessible distance, 100 yards is fine. Especially if you need swim fins to shoot 200. As you regularly note, slight changes in alloy and coating change weight. My object was a 190 grain SWC with ogive measured from 1.605" case mouth the cylinder face, very close. With a long wheelbase (bearing surface)----to promote uniform acceleration with slow powder; to reduce groove diameter and twist rate sensitivity and, to put it country simple, fly straight.

Lowest charge I’ve tried is 17 grains/IMR 4227, with WSR primer in Federal brass. Isn’t as dramatic on gallon jugs as 18 or 18.5/4227, but it’s no slouch for accuracy, even without crimp. In fact, any decent crimp should be accurate with decent case tension.

Appreciate and look forward to your reports,
David Bradshaw

[Lee Martin]

Bradshaw Report #6
_____________________________

After changing sights, first shots are fired @ 25 yards. Load we’ve shot the most of: Bradshaw-Martin 194 SWC GC, 18.5/4227, small rifle primer.



Front sight sketched on pig to show size as it appears @ 25 yards, and POI (Point of Aim).



….followed by two shots @ 100 yards.



Front sight sketched on pig approximates size as seen on target @ 100 yards. Point of Impact (POI) error 4x greater @ 100 yards than at 25 yds.



After change of sights, POI shifted left.



Targets compared, 25 and 100 yards.Note change in elevation hold. No sight adjustment (elevation & windage) made between targets.



4x4 into 1.8-inch group @ 100 yards.



Notes for previous target. Sights for this target are: Front----.107” wide x .440” high; Rear——.091” wide x .060” deep. Elevation screw is old type with 8-clicks per revolution, up 24-clicks (from bottom detent). Headwind blew over target board as David lined up for a fifth shot.



A more typical target from 100 yards.



-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[Lee Martin]

Bradshaw Report #6 Continued
__________________________________

About to swap grips. Grip frame of Blackhawk .357 Maximum held by forward guard screw only. In event grip screws loosen, lugs projecting from “ears” of older Ruger grip frames engage slots in frame to prevent from dropping.



SBH Bisley Hunter with grip frame held only by front guard screw. Grip lacks lugs, and frame lacks cuts to receive lugs. Thus, grip frame droops when held by front screw only.



Bisley grip frames compared. Newer grip frame (left) without lugs. Older grip frame frame, with lugs projecting from “ears."



Lugs prevent old style Bisley grip frame (left) from fitting new style frame (right).



Bisley and Super Blackhawk grip frames.



Gripping Super Blackhawk grip frame. Note relief between middle finger and trigger guard. David prefers HEEL INDEX grasp for all single actions.



Even HEEL INDEX grasp of Bisley grip frame fails to allow air gap between middle finger and trigger guard. Nevertheless, heel index goes a long way to protect middle finger.



Bisley frame with Maximum mainspring . Bill Ruger, Jr., incorporated Old Army cap & ball mainspring to eliminate primer BLANKING and consistently ignite rifle primer.



Bisley grip frame frame headed for Maximum frame. Note indexing lugs at bottom of grip frame “ears.” Maximum mainspring in place.



Bisley grip frame attached to Blackhawk Maximum by forward guard screw only. The lugs help speed trigger tuning.



Bisley grip frame installed. Bill Ruger wanted to introduce the .357 Maximum with a Bisley frame. Bill asked David, “What do you think of the Bisley grip frame?” To which David pronounced the Colt Bisley “an abomination of Victorian design.” To which Bill replied, “It doesn’t have to be like that.” While the concept borrows from the Colt Bisley, the Ruger Bisley is 100% Ruger. Bill Ruger did not think much of Keith’s Number 5, considering the aesthetic clumsy. Ruer wanted Blackhawk/SBH and his Bisley to match up at the hump in a continuous arc. Didn’t work out in production.



Bisley Maximum ready for work.



First group with Bisley grip @ 100 yards. First 3-shots (right) into 3.1-inches. Heavy 3 o’clock wind catches shots 4 & 5, which nevertheless hold 1.4-inch. Note wind flag. Point of Impact (POI) nearly interchangeable between SBH and Bisley grip. Sights: Front .107” wide x .440” high; Rear .091” notch x .060” deep.



-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[wheelguns]

Awesome post! Being a fan of the ruger bisley grip frame myself, I am curious. Which one did you and Mr. Bradshaw prefer? The super blackhawk grip frame or the bisley grip frame.

[bradshaw]

Beaucoup thanks, Lee, for posting.

Lee and I are starting to lose track of the order of our respective reports. In this report, Bradshaw Report #6, I screw an older Bisley gripframe to the Blackhawk Maximum. Sight dope @ 100 yards interchanges between Super Blackhawk and Bisley grips. Same or very little difference in Point of Impact with the Bradshaw-Martin 194 SWC GC. I fashioned grips for the Bisley gripframe from mahogany or a close relative of mahogany; sanding texture is for tactile effect. This is close to what Bill Ruger wanted the Maximum to look like. Not every one likes the Bisley grip, just as not everyone likes the Super Blackhawk grip. I get along with both.

Lee is shooting the SBH grip. I may swap back and forth.

Lee posts my reports as well as his. Thus, my photos & writing appear under the Martin byline. If confused, please refer to the heading.
David Bradshaw

[sixshot]

David, I was confused at first, thought it was Lee reporting. Very nice write up, both of you give very detailed reports of your findings which helps everyone. I like the Bisley grip frame myself but have no problem with the SBH if I'm shooting Pachmayr's on them. I am out of bullets & need to get some cast up for both me & Onegoodshot, I've been making handgun stocks. Thanks again for the very fine write up. Hoping to see a come back from the 357 Maximum!

Dick

[wheelguns]

Thank you for the clarification Mr Bradshaw, and thank you for sharing your knowledge and stories of your experiences. In the short time that I have been on this forum, I have really learned alot. It is a true pleasure to read everything that you write.

[bradshaw]

wheelguns.... welcome aboard. Attaching a Bisley grip to the Maximum, first thing I looked for was a change in Point of Impact @ 100 yards. So far, the respective grips shot the 194 SWC to the same POI. The curved backstop of a single action grips rolls most erratically on a hot day in a dry hand. The same probably would happen in dry, severe freezing, except that a bare hand is unlikely in severe cold and a decent glove has friction.(Against hard cold, synthetic gloves with synthetic friction blueprint unpredictable sliding.)

Now, in 90-degree heat, I shoot in deerskin gloves. Supple, unlined deerskin, rubber with aware mixture of beeswax & clear mineral oil. Protects my hands, mainly the middle finger. Grip pressure not to exceed consistency on target. In this way, grip is more a function of recoil than doctrine.
David Bradshaw

[bradshaw]

"Which one did you prefer? The Super Blackhawk grip frame or the Bisley grip frame?”
----wheelguns

*****

Swapped out SBH grpframe, screwed on Bisley gripframe. Straight to 100 yards, same 45-clicks on the elevation screw, curious to compare Point of Impact. Bradshaw-Martin 194 over 18.5/4227 dropping into the same POI @ 100 yards. Leastwise good enough for deer the length of a football field.

Having ridden a small mountain of .357 Maximum on the Super Blackhawk grip, not ready to pronounce the Bisley superior. Need more mileage to judge the Bisley Maximum[/b]. Reckon the Bisley has its work cut out to challenge music played with the SBH grip.
David Bradshaw

[bradshaw]

Mike, aka z1r..... pages 5 & 9 of this report show revolver with barrel and butt rested for ammunition accuracy testing. The butt rests on homemade leather sandbag. Often, but not always, the support hand acts more as a bag guide to steer the sights, than in its traditional job of wrapping the gun hand. Hand pressure is relaxed, a squeeze easily maintained for long periods. Such a grip not only permits endurance shooting, it allows the trigger finger to float independent of muscle strain throughout the shooting session.

My BODY ALIGNMENT was learned in riflery, then applied to handgunning. Nothing has come along to minimize the importance of body alignment to sharpshooting. Ignore body alignment at your peril. To do so is as bad as to cross your feet while facing another wrestler.

Body Alignment
Adjust your position to target. Do not move gun to target when it is possible to adjust position to target. For example: you are on the silhouette firing line. A bank of five targets is spread out. Adjust position to naturally align position to next target. Do not make your muscles push the gun over there when a simple shift of the feet (offhand), or body (freestyle), aligns sights naturally on target.
David Bradshaw

[bradshaw]

awp101..... a rest I use, appears on pages 2, 5 & 9. To view a rest used by Dick Thompson, aka sixshot, check out page 8. Of all the contraptions I’ve seen in use by persons shooting revolvers, none impress me.
David Bradshaw

[Lee Martin]

Saturday I revisited AA1680 with our 194 gr Bradshaw-Martin bullet. Previously I used 22.0 grs which was a bit light. This time I loaded 100 rounds split evenly between 23.0 and 24.0 grs. Average velocity over five shots:

23.0 = 1,521 fps
24.0 = 1,587 fps



David and I both need to work more with 1680 and our bullet before forming conclusions. But so far, it’s a close second to IMR 4227 on group size. My best targets with each load:

23.0 AA1680 @ 100 yards - 12:00 looks like two hits due to how the paint chipped. 3:00 are two shots that touched.



24.0 AA1680 @ 100 yards – 4x4 is around 3”. The third shot out of five walked up nearly 4”.



This coming weekend I plan to retry H110, but lower charge weights (20.0 & 21.0). If you recall, 22.0 grs was extremely fast but gave erratic accuracy.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[seminolewind]

Thank you Lee for continuing this report. I've just started loading for a Ruger 357 Maximum and am very interested in your load development. Has anyone taken any game with your bullet yet?

[contender]

I let this project go to the back burner last summer, as I was doing a lot with my 45 cal stuff. Last night, I took the time to re-read all the posts in this thread. I'm going to "get off the pot" so to speak & get one of these molds on order.
I've waited too long.

[bradshaw]

Feb 19, 2019 8:55:37 GMT -5 seminolewind said:

Thank you Lee for continuing this report. I've just started loading for a Ruger 357 Maximum and am very interested in your load development. Has anyone taken any game with your bullet yet?

*****

Haven’t killed livestock----let alone taken game----with our POWDER COAT Bradshaw-Martin 194 SWC GC. In shooting over a long, relatively flat, hayfield, the bullet tracks remarkably straight for 150 yards past the 1/2” plywood target board @ 200 yards. Grooves cut through matted grass and sod continue straight or sometimes veer in a slow arc, impossible to do with an unstable bullet. The 1:16 twist is plenty and comes as no surprise, given the variety of twists Bill Ruger, Jr., and I shot with prototype SRM-2. Have a feeling that when the bullet is put to work on meat, there may not be many surprises.

Dick Thompson, aka sixshot, stepped from handgun hunting into the formative era of handgun silhouette, helping Elgin & Dollie Gates paste up The Silhouette----the IHMSA monthly paper. Dick didn’t stay long in the steel game, as his fever for hunting took precedent. As a practitioner of the Maximum, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Dick take a cylinder full of the Bradshaw-Martin 194 afield. My recent livestock chores have involved slaughter in some proximity to other animals, where moderate rounds from the Ruger 03, M-29 4”, and Ruger MK II .22LR, etc., whisper more quietly. Like Dick, I came to silhouette from handgun hunting, with a preference for lung shots when possible. A blueprint I switch to shoulder shots in briar-choked areas of the deep south, where tracking even a short distance through thorn briars shreds clothing and skin. And worse, the vine-shrouded creek, which cover a mortally wounded deer may seek.... hangout of moccasins and rattlesnakes.
David Bradshaw